Peter Zhang
Jan 21, 2026 18:03
ElevenLabs releases The Eleven Album featuring GRAMMY winners and EGOT recipient Liza Minnelli, showcasing AI-human music collaboration with Eleven Music model.
ElevenLabs just made its biggest play yet in the AI music space. The company released The Eleven Album on January 21, 2026, featuring collaborations with EGOT winner Liza Minnelli, eight-time GRAMMY recipient Art Garfunkel, and a roster of artists collectively representing billions of streams.
This isn’t another AI demo reel. The album spans rap, pop, R&B, EDM, and cinematic scoring, with each track created through the company’s Eleven Music model—the same tool that launched in August 2025 through partnerships with Kobalt Music and Merlin.
Who’s Actually On This Thing
The lineup reads like a deliberate strategy to prove AI can work alongside serious talent, not replace it. Beyond Minnelli and Garfunkel, contributors include Patrick Patrikios (producer for Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera), Brazilian YouTube giant KondZilla with roughly 40 billion total views, and Forbes-designated “Nashville’s Top New Songwriter” Emily Falvey.
Perhaps most interesting: a16z General Partner Chris Lyons contributed a track blending hip-hop with meditative frequencies. When major VCs are creating music on your platform, that’s a signal worth noting.
What Artists Actually Did With It
The workflows varied. Some used Eleven Music to generate base compositions they wrote over. Others experimented with unfamiliar genres or accelerated their production timelines.
“I’ve always believed that music is about connection and emotional truth,” Minnelli said in a statement. “This project respects the artist’s voice, the artist’s choices, and the artist’s ownership. I grew up watching my parents create wonderful dreams that were owned by other people. ElevenLabs makes it possible for anyone to be a creator and owner.”
Garfunkel framed it as technological evolution: “Music has always evolved alongside technology, from microphones to multitrack recording. The human remains at the center. My voice plus the technology simply opens another door.”
KondZilla pushed the model toward Brazilian funk, ultimately creating an English trap/R&B hybrid. “The quality genuinely impressed me,” he said.
The Business Angle
Several participating artists are now listed on ElevenLabs’ Iconic Marketplace, a platform where talent can license their voice or musical identity for approved collaborations across media, gaming, and brand deals. Derek Cournoyer joined the company as Strategy Lead for Music Business Affairs just six days before the album dropped, suggesting serious infrastructure building around music rights.
The Eleven Music model itself generates rights-cleared, commercially usable tracks from text prompts. Users can download up to six studio-quality stems for mixing, edit lyrics and instrumentation, and adjust timing with granular control.
What This Means
ElevenLabs is positioning itself as the responsible alternative in AI music—working with industry partners rather than training on unlicensed catalogs. Whether that approach wins out against competitors moving faster and asking forgiveness later remains the central question.
For now, the company has something tangible: an album featuring legitimate stars who went on record saying the experience worked for them. That’s harder to dismiss than another tech demo.
Image source: Shutterstock
Source: https://blockchain.news/news/elevenlabs-ai-album-liza-minnelli-art-garfunkel
